In one of the testiest moments of Sunday’s presidential debate, Donald Trump said that as president he would instruct his U.S. Attorney General to assign a “special prosecutor” to investigate Hillary Clinton over her missing emails.
At one point, Trump even suggested that if he were president, Clinton would be in jail.
Trump’s statement was the latest reference in his long-running criticism of Clinton’s handling of emails while she was secretary of state. The Republican presidential candidate lashed out at Clinton after she noted he hadn’t apologized to several groups he has criticized throughout his campaign including women, a Gold Star family, Mexicans and even President Obama.
“When you talk about apology, I think the one you should really be apologizing for and this thing you should be apologizing for are the 33,000 e-mails that you deleted and that you acid washed and then the two boxes of e-mails and other things last week taken from an office and are now missing,” Trump told Clinton.
Clinton called his statements untrue and shot back with a question about his temperament.
“It’s just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law of our country,” Clinton said.
“Because you’d be in jail,” Trump quickly fired back causing some members of the audience to cheer and clap. From those watching at home, reactions varied from enthusiastic to incredulous. In a tweet, former Attorney General Eric Holder called it “abuse the power of the office.”
For more than a year, the Democratic Party candidate has been under fire for her handling of State Department emails and her use of a private email server. Trump keeps criticizing Clinton for deleting some 33,000 emails — at one point he suggested Russia should hack and find the missing emails — after receiving a subpoena. Her emails were the subject of an FBI investigation that eventually cleared Clinton of any possible charges.
Trump’s bold pledge to jail Clinton was seen by some as a chilling preview of what kind of president he would be.
Both Republicans and Democrats objected Sunday night to Donald Trump’s threat, painting it as dangerously authoritarian.
While some Trump supporters dismissed the Republican nominee’s remarks as a joke, members of both parties said such behavior would blatantly contradict the ideals of a democratic government. The jailing of political opponents has long been decried as antidemocratic throughout the world.
“Winning candidates don’t threaten to put opponents in jail. Presidents don’t threaten prosecution of individuals. Trump is wrong on this,” said Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush.
“Be afraid of any candidate who says he will order DOJ/FBI to act on his command,” said Eric Holder, who served as Attorney General under President Obama. “This is dangerous/so is @realDonaldTrump-he’s not qualified.”
In a post-debate interview on CNN, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said Trump simply wants to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Clinton.
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
